Kaos: Controversy over games is good if it involves an “intellectual debate”

Kaos Studios’ general manager Dave Votypka believes controversy can be a good thing if it results in an “intellectual debate”.

Speaking with D’toid regarding Homefront and its rather controversial subject matter, Votypka believes the media has so far debated the game in a “thought provoking” manner due to it being a work of fiction.

“When you’re dealing with portraying real events, with real people that the public currently has a personal and emotional attachment to, there are sensitivities there that need to be respected and avoided,” he said. “But when creating speculative fiction, that is based decades in the future, it’s just that, it’s fiction.

“Obviously, getting talked about in mainstream media is good for product awareness, but you don’t want it to be critical or inaccurate. If the result is a discussion of the fictional ideas and intellectual debate, that’s fine and healthy. Frontlines was also built from a ‘what-if’ scenario centered around peak oil, and the energy wars that could result when our finite supply of oil is no longer able to sustain our oil dependent existence. In that game, America and its Allies were fighting to control oil reserves in the Caspian Sea, which one could argue — and some have — that it puts America in a negative light; but it’s a story.

“The game and its premise was featured on FOX News, in the New York Times, USA Today, and numerous other mainstream media channels. At most, it was presented as a thought provoking discussion, and we don’t believe the view of Homefront’s fictional premise deserves to be taken any further.”